Judicial Watch: Victory for Voting Rights Stands…for Now

North Carolina voters will continue to have expanded voting opportunities in our state under a major decision announced by the U.S. Supreme Court last week.

That’s the headline. The subheading, though, adds this caveat: “for now.” Here’s the deal:

In 2013, the NC General Assembly passed a massive voting rights suppression bill, stripping state voters of their rights to register and vote on the same day during early voting; have their votes counted if they were inadvertently cast at the wrong polling place; and vote if they were properly registered but didn’t have a driver’s license or special voter identification card. The law also contained other provisions designed to make it harder for many people to vote and easier for partisans to challenge voters’ right to vote. It was signed into law by then-Gov. Pat McCrory.

The law was immediately challenged in federal court. Both federal District and Appeals Court judges issued orders keeping its provisions from going into effect. The Appeals Court order went so far as to declare that the law’s restrictive provisions unconstitutionally targeted minority voters “with almost surgical precision.”

Republican legislative leaders and then-Gov. McCrory asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse the Appeals Court’s decision and restore the 2013 law’s provisions. Last year, however, the short-handed Supreme Court declined to intervene, and the injunction against the law stayed in effect through the 2016 elections.

This year, the Republican legislative leaders again asked the Supreme Court (with its newly confirmed ninth member) to hear their challenge to the Appeals Court decision. However, the State of North Carolina, officially represented now by newly elected Gov. Roy Cooper, reversed course and asked the Supreme Court to leave the Appeals Court’s injunction in place.

On June 15, the Supreme Court announced that it would not hear the challenge. However, the order took the unusual step of stating that it was not a decision on the merits of the claims but reflected conflict over whether the legislators or the governor spoke for the state in this case.

As a result, the voters challenging the law have won their case. The 2013 voter suppression law will not be revived. However, there is no certainty on how the Supreme Court would rule in future similar cases. Gov. Cooper and Attorney General Josh Stein praised the ruling as a victory for voting and civil rights. NC State Senate leader Phil Berger and NC House Speaker Tim Moore condemned it and promised to try again with another voter suppression bill. (Naturally, they continue to deny that it’s voter suppression.)

Conservation advocates join other citizen advocates in celebrating the continued availability of broader voting opportunities in North Carolina. That’s the way we hold legislators and other officials accountable in a democracy. We also recognize that those rights will continue to be under fire in our state, and that we will have to continue to fight to keep voting accessible to all citizens.

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